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The French Vendetta

A holiday in Europe turns deadly... (Charles Holborne Legal Thrillers, Book 11)

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The French Vendetta

By: Simon Michael
Narrated by: Colin Mace
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Summary

A honeymoon turns into a nightmare for Charles Holborne! Perfect for fans of John Grisham, Robert Bailey, Michael Connelly and Robert Dugoni.

Who will pay for the sins of the past…?

France, 1969

When a rare gap opens in barrister Charles Holborne's court diary, he and Sally seize the chance for their long-postponed honeymoon. With baby Leia in tow, they seek peace in a friend's farmhouse deep in the rural heart of Gascony — a picturesque land of vineyards, sleepy village squares and distant Pyrenean peaks.

But Charles soon discovers that the village's charm hides something much darker. Beneath the quiet seethes a poisonous web of old grudges and betrayals — a community still fighting the Second World War, where old crimes refuse to stay buried.

Drawn into a simmering vendetta between those who collaborated with the Nazis and those who resisted, Charles has no choice but to defend a client in a place with no judge, no rules, and no law.

With a firing squad waiting for the verdict, his defendant's life is on the line…

THE FRENCH VENDETTA is the eleventh crime novel in an exciting historical series, the Charles Holborne Legal Thrillers — gritty, hard-boiled mysteries set in 1960s London.

'A masterfully plotted blend of historical intrigue and legal thriller, drawing back the curtain on the day-to-day horrors of rural Vichy France. A wonderfully compelling historical mystery.' — Vaseem Khan Winner of the Shamus Award, Eastern Eye's Arts Culture & Theatre Awards for Literature and the CWA Historical Dagger Award

THE CHARLES HOLBORNE LEGAL THRILLERS SERIES

  • BOOK ONE: The Brief
  • BOOK TWO: An Honest Man
  • BOOK THREE: The Lighterman
  • BOOK FOUR: Corrupted
  • BOOK FIVE: The Waxwork Corpse
  • BOOK SIX: Force of Evil
  • BOOK SEVEN: The Final Shot
  • BOOK EIGHT: Nothing But The Truth
  • BOOK NINE: Death, Adjourned
  • BOOK TEN: The Fall Guy
©2026 Sapere Books (P)2026 Simon Michael
Historical Fiction Jewish Political Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense World Literature Law Fiction Village Crime Thriller Mystery
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At the start I worried this was going to be a Jewish homily. Nothing wrong with that but I prefer a good story. And this was exactly that a clever transposition that moved the standard court room drama with our here Barrister and hostile Judge to a new setting.

The plot was also ok although the failure of the romance when one protagonist had an incident was never explained and handled poorly. Apparently in some entirely unexplained way a romance just died instantly never to be referred to again.

All in all though this was as usual a very satisfying listen.

Well done transposing a court room drama

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